US Representatives House approves Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives approved on Tuesday the ‘Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act’ of 2023, which is to be included later in both the House and Senate’s agenda and then the office of the US president.
The Syrian Support Group, a Washington-based non-governmental organization, the only organization permitted to provide support directly to the Free Syrian Army (FSA) by the US government, said that the Foreign Affairs Committee approved the ‘Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act’ of 2023 days after its introduction.
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced a bill on May 11 that would bar the White House from normalizing ties with the government of Bashar al-Assad and facilitate sanctioning countries that do.
The ‘Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act’ was introduced by Representatives Joe Wilson, Vicente Gonzalez, Michael McCaul, Brendan Boyle, French Hill, Steve Cohen, Carlos Gimenez and Amata Radewagen.
The bill faces a vote in the House of Representative and in the Senate.
If backed by a majority, it will be put before US President Joe Biden’s desk for final approval.
However, the date of implementation has not been announced.
This bill follows multiple normalization processes between Arab countries and the Syrian government over protests by the US, which rejects any normalization with the Syrian government without serious steps towards a political solution to the Syrian crisis.
The bill has been one of the strongest legislation regarding Syria since the approval of the Caesar Act in 2019.
In June 2019, the US administration imposed sanctions that targeted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his inner circle in a bid to force it back to the UN and put an end to the country’s decade-long war.
The bill’s provisions include “a requirement for an annual strategy from the secretary of state for five years on countering normalization with Assad’s government, including a list of diplomatic meetings held between Syria’s government and Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and others,” according to Retuers.
Damascus was readmitted to the Arab League this week and will likely attend a League summit in Riyadh on May 19. Several Middle Eastern countries have recently made moves to normalize ties with al-Assad’s government.